1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems, and more particularly to enhanced call processing for telephone calls in a public switch telephone network or for telephone calls in a packet-switched data network.
2. Background of the Invention
Telecommunications system users often use communications devices in a shared environment. For example, in a typical household and in some offices a single telephone line may be used by multiple parties. In such environments, when a caller calls the household or the office, the caller dials a commonly used telephone number with the intent of reaching only one of the individuals associated with the number. If the intended called party is not at the called location when the call arrives, an extra burden is placed on the caller, the answering party, and the intended called party. That is, the other users of the shared communications device may answer a call merely to inform the caller that the intended called party is not in. The answering party may further take a message from the caller, or provide additional information regarding the intended called party's whereabouts. If the caller is directed to another location where the intended called party might be reached, the caller must end the current communication and place another call to the other location. If the caller does not wish to make a subsequent call, the intended called party may have missed an important communication.
One way for reducing the burden for answering parties has been to use a caller identification (caller-id) display device to identify the calling party prior to answering a call. Caller-id devices only allow the answering party to screen for calls that may be intended for a user present in the household or office. That is, for example, if Dianne Carter (calling from her office number, 205-654-2022) is known to always (or primarily) wish to communicate with Joan, and Joan is not at home at the time of a call from Dianne, Joan's family may choose not answer the call. If the household has voicemail or an answering machine, Dianne could leave a message, but she would not be put into contact with Joan until some time later.
If Joan was expecting the call, but had to leave the house for some period of time, the family could answer the call and could inform Dianne that Joan can be reached on her mobile telephone. In this case, Dianne has to hang up the call and dial Joan's mobile phone number. Further, if Dianne does not have a convenient means of writing down the new telephone number, she may forget the new number or may fail to place the second call.
In another situation, Joan (the intended called party) may not want to provide Dianne (the calling party) with the alternate telephone number but still desires to receive Dianne's call even when Joan is out of the home or office. Using conventional systems and methods, a person at Joan's home or office may answer Dianne's call, prompt her for her telephone number, then call Joan and ask her to return Dianne's call. Again, this method places a burden on the answering party who must serve as an intermediary between the calling party and the intended called party. A burden is also placed on the intended called party who must place a new call to the caller.
A need therefore exists for systems and methods to allow the recipient party (also referred to herein as “answering party”) to redirect the call to the intended called party (also referred to herein as “called party”) without having to interact with the caller (also referred to herein as “calling party”) and without requiring any of the parties to place a subsequent call.